Doodles with new Toys

It was Christmas in September when I received this great box of art supplies from Winsor & Newton! I usually sketch in pencil, my roots are in pen sketching. So feeling it a bit rusty, I had to figure out a way to not put too much pressure on myself. The answer? Sketching while “watching” television (gosh, I’m sort of embarrassed to write that!)

So using one of the fineline markers and the pad of paper, I doodled what was right in front of me…

Regarding the materials, I really like the paper. I already work a lot on the Winsor & Newton professional watercolor paper (I cut it into 8″ x 16″ pieces for travel sketching), but this small pad was new to me. I love the proportions and size 6″ x 11″, the paper is very thin and if I mess up, I just tear it off and start over… better than messing up in a bound sketchbook! Less pressure for sure.

I’m working with the watercolor markers to figure out how to use them. So far, there are things I like and don’t like about them. I don’t find they mix or layer too well, which is what I would want in a watercolor marker. But I’ll keep at it for a bit. The set of pencils and charcoal are lovely, I actually really like how the 2B pencil (my preferred) glides across the paper.

If you’re wondering where I’ve been lately, I’ve been teaching my new online classes, Understanding Perspective, which are taking TONS of time. Three classes down, three to go. I’m really enjoying it and learning so much about how to do this better next time, and the participants are all wonderful and very understanding as I figure out the tech. Thanks to all, I hope you are learning a lot! And thank you so much to W&N for the lovely art supplies!!!